Read the entire Editorial: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-foia-0127-jm-20130127,0,4995587.story Nine months ago, the nonprofit For the Good of Illinois asked the Illinois comptroller’s office […]

The Lake County sheriff’s office budget and spending reports are now online and available for inspection 24 hours a day.

Sheriff Mark Curran said Wednesday he approved the posting of the office’s finances at the request of a group that is asking all government bodies to make their records more open to the public.

“My administration is about transparency,” he said. “I want anyone with a question about how we are spending their money to be able to look it up for themselves.”

Curran said he did so at the request of Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the nonprofit group For the Good of Illinois.

Rodriguez, Long Grove’s village president and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress in the February primary, said the group is spearheading efforts to have a forensic audit done on the state’s finances.

“We believe all citizens should have access to information about their government,” she said. “We believe that transparency in government resonates like never before with citizens.”

Kevin Lyons, business manager for the sheriff’s office, said the information can be found at www.lakecountyil.gov/sheriff and will include the office’s monthly expense reports, revenue reports and inmate welfare account reports.

For the Good of Illinois was founded in 2007 by Adam Andrezejewski, an unsuccessful candidate for the GOP nomination for governor in the February primary.

The group’s Web site lists nine rallies of the ultraconservative tea party movement in its events section for April. Rodriguez said while Andrezejewski is aligned with the tea party, the group takes a more nonpartisan approach.

“I am willing to speak to any group that will have me,” she said. “We simply want to promote open government at all levels.”

Curran said he did not view his association with For the Good of Illinois as linking him to the tea party.